Tinned tuna and hand sanitiser sales soar after shoppers told to stockpile

Essentials like tinned tuna and hand sanitiser began flying off of the shelves in the days following the government’s warning that Brits should start stockpiling. In the ten days after shoppers were told to build up piles of essentials, sales of hand sanitiser jumped by 83 per cent year-on-year, according to Worldpanel by Numerator. This comes as Princes Group, a London-listed tinned foods manufacturer, told shareholders the government’s stockpiling orders had boosted demand for its products, which include tuna, tinned tomatoes and dried pasta.  Last month, the government launched a campaign to encourage British households to build up supplies of non-perishable goods and survival essentials to last them three days. Defence secretary Wes Streeting said Brits should take action in case of hybrid attacks by “hostile state actors or terrorists” and revealed that he had begun building up his own stockpile weeks earlier. Giuseppe Mastrolia, interim chief executive of Prince